Crockett's Daytona
One of the most popular elements of the show in the earlier seasons was Crockett's Ferrari Daytona Spyder. As Crockett was a vice cop and dealt frequently with wealthy criminals, all facets of his life were glamorized, from clothes and lifestyle to his car. His Daytona was even fitted with an in-car telephone, a relatively new invention in 1983 and correspondingly no doubt reserved for the wealthy elite. Crockett was issued the car sometime after 1980, as in the flashback to that time period in the episode "Forgive Us Our Debts" he is driving a black Porsche 911. Usage Several popular scenes in the show featured the Daytona, including: *The "In the Air Tonight" Scene (Brother's Keeper) *"Going Under" (Heart of Darkness) *"In the Night" (Calderone's Return (Part I)) *"Wire" (Lombard) *"No Guarantees" (Buddies) Storyline As stated, the Daytona was Crockett's car throughout the first two seasons. Crockett took it for servicing to Tommie, a exotic car mechanic. In the episode "Whatever Works" it was almost confiscated by a Metro-Dade official so that it may be auctioned off to raise funds for the department; it sat in a junkyard for two weeks before Crockett was able to save it with Izzy Moreno's help. Sadly, the Daytona was destroyed in the episode "When Irish Eyes Are Crying". It was hit by a Stinger missile fired by Eddie Kaye when Crockett questioned the quality of his merchandise, much to Crockett's disbelief. Tubbs, meanwhile, saw the funny side. Real Cars In real life, the cars used on the show were not genuine Daytonas, due to the price (ca. 1980s they were selling for around $100,000-$200,000) and rarity of the genuine Ferraris. The cars used in the show were built around a Corvette C3 chassis, one car was a 1976 and one was a 1981. Both cars had 350 engines and a 3 speed automatic transmission as seen in the episode "Junk Love". The McBurnies had fiberglass body panels and the headlights were under a plexiglass panel which was tinted in season two and three. The replicas also featured imitation wire wheels. Like its real counterpart, the replicas had soft tops, which can be seen in use in only two episodes, "Cool Runnin'" and "Bought and Paid For". One of the McBurnie Daytonas was mounted with cameras for close up shots, while the other was used for driving sequences. After the car garnered so much attention in the first two seasons, Enzo Ferrari became outraged that a fake Ferrari was attracting so much fame. As a result, he offered producers the use of the Testarossa instead and demanded the fake Ferrari be removed from the show. They agreed, but on the condition that they were allowed to keep the Daytona so that it may be properly killed off. Notes * Tubbs was only seen driving the car twice, in the episode "Calderone's Return: The Hit List". * In the 3rd Season episode "El Viejo" the Daytona returns from the dead with no explanation. This continuity error arose because the studio decided the episode was not suitable for the season opener, as was originally planned. Ironically, they ended up using "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" to open the season because they thought the destruction of the Daytona was a stunning plot point.